Love After Death
by P2tbAnimeGirl
Summary: What happens when Deidara doesn't come back from a mission?  Will Kaune, his girlfriend, remain loyal to him or will she look to the other male Akatsuki members to replace Deidara?


DISCLAIMER:_ [Akatsuki © Masashi Kishimoto | Naruto and all of its characters © Masashi Kishimoto]_

"Kaune-Chan!" Tobi said as he came running after me. I just turned around and looked at him with a blank face.

"What is it Tobi-kun?" I asked as he hid behind me.

"Deidara-sempai is trying to kill me!" Tobi said from behind me.

"Why is Deidara -?" I was about to ask why when Deidara showed up on the scene.

"TOBI! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU NOW!" Deidara shouted. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TOBI!" Deidara said, once he saw Tobi hiding behind me.

"Whoa Deidara-san! Take a chill pill! What did Tobi-kun do now that got you this upset?" I asked, not wanting to resort of violent matters to stop Deidara from killing Tobi. I've known Deidara for a long time, and we were more than 'Friends' and 'Comrades'. Deidara is my boyfriend. And just like any good girlfriend, I knew how to calm him down when he got this angry and upset.

"The little sh!t took my clay and –" Deidara started, but I stopped him right there.

"Tobi-kun, how many times do we have to tell you not to take Deidara-sempai's clay. It's highly explosive, as _YOU_ of all people well know." I said to Tobi, who was trembling in fear behind me.

"B-but Kaune-Chan…" Tobi began, but I interrupted him.

"No buts! What do you think would have happened if you detonated his clay? You would have caused a lot of damage. Do you know how angry Leader-sama would be with you?" I said to Tobi. Just then something came to Tobi, with instant alarm he took something out of his pocket and threw the items back at Deidara. Deidara jumped back, surprised at first and then even more enraged.

"HEY! What the hell do you think you're doing, Un? That could have gone off and killed us!" Deidara said as he pointed to the small area where Tobi threw the objects. I looked at them for a moment before I could identify the objects to be small clay sculptures, they were obviously made by Tobi. I flinched at the thought of them going off at a moments notice.

"You better not detonate them!" I said to Deidara.

"I'm not, un!" Deidara said as he went to work on picking the small clay objects up.

It took me a while to calm Deidara down, and help Tobi live to see another day after that incident. Deidara spent the rest of the day trying to fix the messed up clay sculptures that Tobi had made, but he soon lost interest and decided to not only defuse them, but to throw them out. While Tobi, on the other hand, decided to hang around with me because he knew that if Deidara caught him alone he would kill him.

_(Later That Night)_

I left the base that night, after everyone was asleep, to get some fresh air and to have some time to myself. I jumped up into a tree and sat there for some time, just thinking to myself and looking up at the moon. '_Tomorrow's the mission. Stupid Leader-sama doesn't want me to attend, so it's just Deidara and Tobi tomorrow. I still have that bad feeling. The feeling that tomorrows mission is going to be a failure. That I'll lose Deidara because of it._' I thought to myself, looking up at the stars..

"Hey what are you doing up so late, un?" Deidara asked, bringing me back from my thoughts and startling me in the process. I looked down at him only to see him looking up at me.

"Shouldn't you be asleep? You have a mission tomorrow." I said, not wanting to show my concern for the feelings of the mission.

"Yeah. And don't answer my question with a question. So why are up so late anyways, un?" Deidara asked as he jumped up into the tree next to me. He sat down next to me and put his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I relaxed and leaned my head into his chest, as we both looked up at the moon and continued to talk.

"I was just thinking that's all…" I told Deidara.

"About what?" He asked.

"About your mission tomorrow," I replied. I didn't need to look up to see the look he was giving me. I could feel his gaze turn to me. The mission had been a sore topic between us for the past few days. "…I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have a bad feeling." I continued.

"I know about your feelings and all, but my decision on this mission still remains the same. I'm going still going." Deidara stated. He knew I was never wrong when I got these gut feelings, so why was he refusing to believe me this time?

"I think the mission will be a failure and someone will die." I continued.

"I won't kill Tobi, you have my word. I might hurt him and yell at him, but I won't kill him." Deidara said with a small chuckle.

"Not Tobi-kun. Come on, this is serious. I really don't want you to go, you know that." I replied, dead serious. This had been the argument for the past few days. Neither of us liked this topic, Deidara made that clear when he let out a small, frustrated sigh.

"Kaune, I'll be fine. I promise that I'll come back alive and well. You worry too much about me sometimes." Deidara said, sincerity in his voice.

"I still don't want you to go on the mission. Can't you ask leader-sama to send someone else?" I asked. I wished that Deidara had better luck than me. Leader-sama had already denied my request to switch places with Deidara, but I was hoping that if Deidara asked then Leader-sama might consider the change.

"I can't do that, un." Deidara said. "Come on, it's late." Deidara said as he got up. I grabbed the sleeve of his cloak. I knew he was trying to avoid the conversation.

"Deidara don't leave, please…" I said as I looked up at him. I looked deeply into his bright blue eyes, my own pleading with him.

"I can't drop out tomorrow, you _know_ that, un. I have to go. Leader's orders, and that's final." Deidara replied. I looked at him, afraid to let him go. My grip only tightened, and then fell loose as I finally let go.

"Ok. I'll remember your promise and hold you to it. You better come back to me. Just come back in one piece this time." I replied in all seriousness. The last time this happened, Deidara got both of his arms ripped off. My feelings of danger were never wrong.

"I promise that I'll come back in one piece. I'll always be with you. I love you Kaune. You know that too." Deidara said as I got up too.

"I love you too Deidara." I said, jumping from the branch in the tree. Deidara followed me and jumped down too. And so we both began to walk back to the base.

_(THAT MORNING)_

I woke up late that morning. My best guess was because I had stayed up so late that night. I knew that Deidara wasn't going to be here this morning so I took my time getting ready for the day. I wanted this day to end so I was stalling and taking up time. But whatever I did, I couldn't get rid of these awful feelings. They just got worse as time went on.

I just wandered around the base aimlessly, waiting. Waiting for Deidara to come back.

Today ended up being a waste for me. I did absolutely nothing of any value. I just waited for Deidara and wandered from room to room like a lost ghost. But then, as I was walking down the hall, I heard people talking.

"What…?" A familiar voice asked as I walked down the hall to the dining room. I could barely make out what they were saying.

"….Deidara….Sasuke…..the result of the fight…..Died." I heard a lower voice say. I couldn't hear the whole thing, but I could make out a few words. My heart raced when I heard Deidara's name. I began to walk faster, hoping to hear more.

"So how…we…Kaune?" A different voice asked.

"I …know." The second, lower voice said.

"Well we better think of something fast." A fourth voice asked. I could make out the full sentences out now. I was close enough to hear everything.

"Why?" The first voice asked.

"She's down the hall" The fourth voice said.

That's when I walked into the room, all eyes were immediately on me. Pein, Zetsu, Tobi, Itachi, Kisame, and Konan were all in the room.

"Did something happen?" I asked after a minute, I was playing dumb. I _knew_ something was up. Everyone looked at the floor, not making eye contact with me. "What happened Tobi? Where is Deidara?" I asked, my voice more frantic that I would have liked it to be. My heart hit the floor. I knew what was coming.

"Kaune-Chan…" Tobi said as he continued to look at the floor. He couldn't say the most dreaded words that I knew were coming. But there was still a foolish part of me that was praying that Deidara was alive, just knocked out and asleep in his room. He had made a promise to me, he couldn't just die and leave me here alone.

"Kaune, Deidara fought with Sasuke. And Sasuke won, Deidara's dead and won't be coming back." Pein said.

"W-What?" I asked. I slowly fell to my knees; my body was shaking as tears hit the floor. Some of the members looked at me with disgust, while the others looked at me with some sympathy. Konan looked the saddest out of all of them.

"It's a part of life, Kaune. Everyone dies sooner or later." Itachi stated eventually. His tone was as cold and emotionless as ever. "You need to learn to move on." Itachi said before he decided to leave the room.

"Itachi! That's –" Konan began to yell after Itachi, angry at what he had said before Pein put his arm up to stop her.

"Let it go, Konan." Pein said.

_( Afterwards)_

The First week was the hardest. I was a mess. I had locked myself in my room, refusing to come out for meals and meetings. I ignored my duties as an Akatsuki member as well. It wasn't until Pein threatened to demote me to a subordinate of Zetsu that I began to be myself again.

The Second week was still bad, but not as bad. I was miserable, but came out of my room a bit more often. I even went back to doing my chores, paperwork, and other duties. Konan became my best friend that week. She gave me a shoulder to cry on and helped me get through the week.

And by the third week I was almost back to normal in the eyes of the other members. I had stopped crying out in the open and had managed to get my feelings under control when I was around them. But I was still miserable. I had finally gotten back to focusing on my work, but my mind always wandered to Deidara whenever I could.

"We have a meeting." Zetsu informed me one afternoon.

"Fine." I replied.

"I know you hate Sasuke, **but Madara seems to like him. So you should at least try to get along with him" **Zetsu commented. I threw a kunai at him, just missing him by an inch, to show my anger at the comment. I did hate Sasuke and I didn't give a rat's $$ if Madara liked him or not. It was two days ago that Itachi died, Tobi revealed his true identity, and Sasuke and his gang joined the Akatsuki. I was not taking the later too well.

"I'll be right there." I snapped at him.

"You've lost your touch. **You would have hit me three weeks ago." **Zetsu said, turning and leaving me there.

"That's low. Even for you." I shot at him from down the hall.

The meeting was boring. Madara and Sasuke sealed a deal, nothing more happened. If Taka helped the Akatsuki capture the eight-tailed beast, Akatsuki would lend the biju's power to Taka.

"You could at the very least look like you were listening." Madara said to me once the meeting room was cleared out.

"I don't like that group or trust them." I replied.

"They are valuable allies. Just because he killed Deidara, doesn't mean you should resent them." Madara lectured.

"I know that, Madara-sama." I replied.

"Then act like you do. I've been tolerant these past three weeks, but it's time you moved on. Those who die are gone and won't come back. You shouldn't waste your time thinking about what could've been." Madara said, making the point very clear to me.

"Understood." I replied, just wanting to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

Madara glared at me for a minute, then in the blink of an eye appeared before me. His face was inches from mine and before I could react properly, he forced me into a kiss! Anger flooded me instantly and I quickly smacked him in the face. He wasn't expecting it and took the full force of my hit. This time I got lucky and the attack didn't go through him. But next time, I doubted I would get so lucky.

This time though, he let go of me, but continued to glare at me with crimson eyes.

"You really should move on. There are better people in this world besides Deidara." He said, putting his mask back on. He proceeded to walk out of the room from there, as if the whole incident never happened.

"You're scum!" I called out once he left the room. I whipped my mouth off with my cloak sleeve.

Time seemed to ease the pain of losing Deidara a little bit. But in the end, I knew I would never forget Deidara. He was my soul mate, that much I was sure of. His death felt like someone had ripped a piece of myself away. I needed him in my life. But now that he was gone, the days just seemed longer than ever. It was almost like my life had lost purpose. But Deidara's final words to me kept me going, kept me clinging and moving through life.

"I'll always be with you. I love you Kaune."

And I will always love him back. No matter what Madara or anyone else said, I would always be Deidara's. Nothing would change that.

**Writers Note: Hello reader, I have decided to edit and revise this story. The older version was in great need of grammar editing, that's for sure. Also, I'm actually really happy with how this one-shot turned out. I was inspired to rewrite and add to this one-shot story because of a poem I read on Quizilla and a song I heard on the radio. I hope you enjoy this story! Feedback is loved! **


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